April 24, 2007

got the fever?

For the last few days I have been up & down with a mild fever. This has been accompanied by my throat swelling up to the size of my head. Which if you do the math, it means that I cannot swallow anything, not even my own spit. Try have a throat that size & sleeping. I bet you can’t.

I blame the gym. The gym got my kids sick. Now they are getting better and I am sick. Damn’d gym. It’s going to be the death of me.

Luckily, this bout of sickness was timed on a weekend so my husband could watch the kids as I stayed curled in the fetal position in my bedroom for 48 hours. Why? Because I was waiting for my Monday 8:00 appointment with the doctor, so that she could tell me I had strep throat, and prescribe me drugs.

Being sick is no fun anymore. Pre-kids you could milk it for a while. You could lie in bed and watch TV and having your significant other bring you food or drinks while you told him all your ailments. He would nod and rub your head, wishing he could take your aches away. You could then roll over and watch Oprah and eat your lunch from bed in your pajamas. Being sick was sort of like being at the spa. You weren’t in a hurry to leave. In fact, when you started to feeling better… you might even have called into work and added an extra sick day.. so that you could clean the house and get stuff done that you have been meaning to do. You know, because weekends were all about the fun stuff… not to be wasted on being sick & doing chores.

Post-kids, being sick is really about minimizing your sickness – and maximizing your coping skills. You can’t call into work sick. Who are you going to call? Yourself?
“Hi self, can you watch the kids for me, while I lay down for a bit?”
“Sure, no problem. While I am at it, I will do your laundry, cook your dinner, grocery shop, and fix the washing machine that just decided to break”.

Thanks self. I knew I could count on you.

If you are lucky enough to be sick on the weekend so that your significant other can watch the kids… he is not going to be babysitting you too. He’s can’t check on you every 10 minutes to see if you need a water refill. In fact, it’s all he can do to keep the little munchkins from your room so that they don’t catch the plague as well. And if you want to complain about your ailments, you had better call your mom… she is the only one who will listen and not hang-up on you.

All in all, after becoming a mother, being sick has lost some of it’s glory. If I think about it, I don’t remember my mom ever being sick. That is probably because she didn’t have the time to be sick while running after my sister & I. My poor mom. I am sorry.

Mom, I promise if you are sick now, I will come over and take care of you. Can you come over and take care of me too? I could use some chicken soup, a cold head compress, and a nice head rub. Mostly can you just look like you feel really sorry for me. I think that is all I need. A little sympathy. It can go a long way while I wait for this penicillin to kick in.